Disney Cookbooks

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In addition to eating Disney food, a lot of us like to try our hand at it at home! For those of you who want to bring Disney into your kitchen, I’ve compiled a few Disney-themed cookbooks for consideration.

Some of these I’ve used, and some simply come highly recommended. There are cookbooks that have recipes for dishes you can get in Disney parks and cookbooks that have “Disney-inspired” recipes — many of them will be fun to use with kiddos in the kitchen, too!

As always, I’d love to hear your favorite Disney recipes. Are there any you’ve tried?

COOKBOOKS FOR EVERYONE TO TRYDisney Recipes: From Animation to Inspiration by Ira L. Meyer and Marcello Garofalo: This is a great option for adults cooking with kids (or adults who feel like kids!). The colorful book contains recipes connected to Disney movies and Disney entertainment (think: “Lady and the Tramp’s Spaghetti Bella Notte” and “Pocahantas’ Savory Indian Corn Pudding”).

DisneyFoodBlog Notes:

Written in 2003, you miss out on recipes referencing Disney movies in recent history, but the classics are here.

With margin notes of “things kids can do” while in the kitchen, everyone can participate.

Delicious Disney by Pam Brandon Written in 2006, this will likely be one of the most “true to life” cookbooks for those of you hoping to duplicate dishes you’ve had in Disney Parks, Resorts, and Cruise Ships. With modern recipes from today (including your favorite dishes from the likes of California Grill and Jiko) and classics from yesterday (some date back to the 60’s!), there’re lots to try.

DisneyFoodBlog Notes:

Pam Brandon is a guru of Florida travel and Disney cookbooks. An author and foodie extraordinaire, Pam is working on another cookbook for Disney and writes a Divas of Dish column.

Published in 1998, this may not have your most recent favorites, but it will most definitely have the classics.

This is a more straightforward cookbook and doesn’t have as many glossy photos as the others do. Those of you who find it distracting to flip through endless pages of photos to get to your recipe will love this one!

Word has it that this is the same book, word for word, as “Mickey’s Gourmet Cookbook” (not mentioned in this blog post). Probably no need to buy both!

The Disney Bakery: 30 Magical Recipes by Adrienne Berofsky: If your sweet tooth has been clamoring lately, this little book contains recipes inspired by Disney movies. Within its colorful pages, you’ll find Cinderella’s Cream Puff Coaches, Canine Crunchies, and Peanut Butter Dumbo Dunkers, among many others. The table of contents is arranged by movie, so be sure to decide what you want to watch before you head for the kitchen!DisneyFoodBlog Notes:

If you couldn’t tell, this is another great one for adults and kids to enjoy together. The book won’t serve as a challenge for my professional baker friends, but it’s fun for a rainy afternoon!

COOKBOOKS TO USE WITH KIDSTiana’s Cookbook (The Princess and the Frog), Recipes for Kids by Disney Press: Here’s what Disney says, “This kid-friendly cookbook features recipes inspired by Tiana’s restaurant in The Princess and the Frog. With simple instructions, large photographs, and charming character art, the book features everything from Tiana’s famous beignets to a bayou smoothie. A star-rating system lets kids know how difficult the recipes are and the characters offer cooking tip. This charming cookbook is sure to please!”

The Disney Magic Kitchen Cookbook by Stephanie Karpinske: This is basically 128 pages chock full of your kids’ favorite Disney characters, end-to-end pictures, fun activities, and healthy eating ideas. Dory and Nemo’s Breakfast Cookies and Buzz’s Blast Off Burritos are just a couple of the interesting dishes you’ll be making together.

DisneyFoodBlog Notes:

With a “School Lunch” section, fruits and veggies guide, and fitness log included, this can be a helpful learning guide for your kids when it comes to making healthy decisions in their everyday food and activity choices.

10 Comments

Besides the great books you have listed, you can also get recipe cards directly from WDW restaurants. We stumbled upon this hidden gem, one year when we ate at Le Cellier. I had eaten the Fillet Mignon with Mushroom risotto and mentioned to the waiter how great it was. At the end of dinner, he came out with the a pre-printed recipe card of the mushroom risotto! The waiter mentioned that most Disney restaurants will provide the recipe cards for the favorite dishes.’

We have tried the mushroom risotto recipe at home and were somewhat successful. The risotto we made was good, but not as good as it is in Le Cellier. Of course!

Great point, James — thanks for the reminder! My Mom is still thrilled to have the recipe card for the ‘Ohana salad dressing! Congrats on trying the Le Cellier risotto recipe — I wonder if it wouldn’t be too much out of my league… I love that stuff, though, so it might be worth a try.

You’ve got my favorites all here. I refer to both Cooking with Mickey books often, and my daughter is a HUGE fan of the Magic Carpet sandwiches in The Magic Kitchen cookbook. (They don’t have crusts. One day, I will make a French Bread fan out of her!) As she gets older, we’ll be hitting that one more and more.

Delicious Disney is one of my overall favorite cookbooks- the photos are amazing! I love the simplicity of the delicious PB & J shake from 50s Prime Time and the bread pudding w/bananas from Ohana…yummy….

We have the Magic Kitchen Cookbook and made the Pirate Tuna Boats the other day. My son was dying to make them, but I was a little hesitant as he is a picky eater and didn’t think he was going to like tuna. He loved it! It is amazing what they will try if it is presented in a cool way!

I am looking for the red spiral cook book “Cooking with Mickey”, that was published about 20 years ago. I borrowed the book from a friend and someone stole the book before I could return it. She will be heart broken if I don’t replace that book. I am thinking that it was volume I.

Be careful with the Chef Mickey cookbook, the recipes must not have been tested for a home kitchen. Specifically, the Cheese Soup recipe – the ingredients are the same as the card you get from the restaurant but the proportions are Much different. Make the recipe book’s version and all you are going to taste is tabasco. The book also includes things like onion lumps ( supposed to be rolls but the recipe calls for no second rising hence little lumps of disappointment) – I’ve tried three recipes out of this book and I was so mad I emailed guest services about it!
Cooks, use it as an inspiration but I’d use a judicious eye on the techniques and ingredients!